With the advent of electronic postage meters, it has become possible to offer meter customers a large number of optional features. Each additional feature, however, creates a larger number of possible combinations of features. Therefore, in order for a meter company to provide a large selection of features, it must maintain a large inventory of meters. This is costly and inefficient. In rental or lease markets, the inventory problem is increased by customer demands for a replacement meter of like features when the meter in service is damaged or fails.
A customer needing to replace the meter or wanting to change the features on his meter must wait for the agent of the meter company to obtain a meter having the desired set of features. If the agent does not have a large inventory, it becomes necessary to have a meter configured at the factory. Therefore, any attempts to reduce the number of meters in the pipeline will adversely affect the length of time necessary to service the customer's request.